What's Worth Living For?
by UnKnownSalvation
Summary: After an event with Flame Princess that results in her death, Finn is so devastated that he hits a point of depression he's never hit before. Finn has lost sight of what made him want to live and it is up to his friends to show him once again.
1. Breaking Through

**A/N: Hey! I'm UnKnownSalvation (Sal for short) and this is an experimental fanfiction. By experimental it means that I can make it a full story if it's asked by enough people. Till than it will remain in current form. Thank you for reading this and enjoy the story.**

**P.S. This has nothing to do with the poll on my profile page.**

_**What's Worth Living For?**_

_**Ch. 1 Breaking Through**_

It was around sundown and all was quiet in the tree house except for one room; the bedroom.

"C'mon man, you can't just lay down all week feeling sorry for yourself. You need to get your edge back. But seriously, I'm worry about you bro. You gotta eat something…" Jake said as he held up a bowl of soup to the expressionless face of his brother.

Jake was attempting to provide solace for Finn but after what happened with Flame Princess, he was starting to doubt he could make any progress. Everything he's tried hadn't helped matters at all.

He tried jokes:

"Hey, Finn did you hear about the race between the lettuce and the tomato? The lettuce was a "head" and the tomato was trying to "ketchup"!" Jake put on his best silly face while he waited for some reaction.

"…" Not even a hint of a smile could be found on Finn's face.

He tried entertaining him with puppets:

"Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome to 'The Jake & Jake Show', starring Big Jake & Little Jake." Jake announced in a loud voice before bringing it down to a normal indoor voice.

"Hello Big Jake, why the long face?" Jake had morphed both of his hands to resemble little versions of him to use as puppets.

"I'm just so sad that I don't have a purpose anymore, Little Jake."

"Sure you do, Big Jake. You just got to look deeper in yourself and look for it."

"You know, I'll do just that, Little Jake. Thanks for cheering me up."

"I think we've all learned a valuable les-" Jake caught a glimpse of Finn rolling over to look away.

"..." Well it was a start but not in the right direction.

"Ugh… That didn't work."

He even asked the Ice King to come over and cause trouble just for Finn to do _something_ besides lay in bed all day.

"FINN!" Ice King shouted in an epic booming voice. "I HAVE COME TO TAKE MY REVENGE! I WILL DESTROY YOU SO YOU MAY NEVER BE ABLE TO STOP ME FROM TAKING WHAT'S RIGHTFULLY MINE! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ice King was channeling energy into his fingertips to show off his freeze beams while he was laughing maniacally. Though the dread of the scene was soon lost as Ice King got a good look at Finn.

"…" Not a single care was given on that day.

"Wow…" Ice King muttered with his voice returning. "And I thought I had bad depression."

"Thanks for trying anyway. Now just leave."

"Fine," Ice King was about to leave before he had one thing to ask. "Hey are we still on for that jam session?"

"OUT!" Jake forcibly shoved Ice King out of the house and closed the bedroom window. He was about to turn to Finn before he turned back to the window. "And if I find out you took any princesses; I'll come to your house and punch ya so hard your beard'll fall off!" Ice King panicked and flew away fast to his kingdom. Jake finally shut the window and looked to Finn.

Jake was at his wits end. He had tried everything he could think of to get a reaction out of Finn but nothing worked. If he got a reaction, he could get through to Finn to probably help him.

"Come on, Finn! What happened to the kick-butt adventuring bro I used to have?!" Jake was on the verge of shouting in frustration but tried his best to keep it back. Jake turned to leave Finn to his moping when he heard something he hadn't heard in what felt like forever.

"He died with Flame Princess…" His voice was raspy from the very few fluids he drank but the message was still loud and clear for Jake. He was both ecstatic to hear Finn speak again but was also afraid. He had nothing to come back with...

Jake tried desperately to think of anything that could help bring Finn back from this pit of depression he dug for himself. After a while of thinking the only thing he could come up with was:

"Finn, what happened back there was tragic and I'm really sorry it had to happen. But you can't let that control your life. We need you man...I need you." With this, Jake went downstairs to make something for himself with nothing but a sad expression on his face.

"How is he?" BMO asked as he walked up to Jake on the walkway.

"Well I got him to talk… so I'm getting somewhere at least." Jake looked at the small robot as it clearly was just as worried as Jake was. "If only FP didn't have to lose her head… then maybe we could've avoided all this grieving. This is starting to make his moping about PB look like he got a splinter… at least it lasted for a day… not a week."

"Let me see if I can do anything."

"Go nuts, BMO," Jake said as he went downstairs but decided to do something other than go eat as his appetite didn't need to be attended to. "If you need me, I'll be at Lady's house." BMO walked into the bedroom to see a sight he didn't want to have to get familiar with. He walked over to Finn's bed and sat himself down in front of him.

"Finn, everyone is worried about you. I know you're still upset, after what happened, but please, you need to stop this." BMO pleaded with its friend.

"BMO, please go away." Finn muttered, all the while trying not to look directly at BMO.

"Finn..." BMO began. "Jake and I just wanted to cheer you up. There's no reason to get upset at us."

"What part of 'please go away' did you not understand?" Finn asked, now getting irritated. BMO didn't respond, but it did upset him to see his friend in such a state.

"Finn, come on. Would Flame Princess want to see you like this?" Bad choice of words from BMO as Finn got visibly angry.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER!" BMO jumped and ran out of the room in fear as Finn continued to vent.

"Wow," A voice suddenly made itself apparent though Finn knew the voice too well to need to look in its direction. "And they say I can be mean."

"What do you want, Marceline?" Finn asked the vampire in irritation. Marceline, if Finn's memory was right, was wearing an outfit that was similar to the one she wore when they first met, though was color differently as the boots were black with her pants gray and her tank top blue.

"I just drop by to check up on you." Marceline replied. "Seriously, I haven't seen you for quite some time."

"Well there's a reason for that..." Finn said darkly.

"I know," Marceline said floating above him. "Bonnie told me." Finn growled the moment Marceline mentioned PB's name.

"Don't you ever mention her name in front of me! EVER!" Finn shouted at the vampire, causing her to recoil in shock though his raspy voice prevented his shouting from being very loud. Marceline wasn't used to seeing Finn in this state. She's seen him upset before but compared to this… not even close.

"Oh," Marceline muttered. "Hot topic..." She began to think hard about the situation and how she could improve it. She almost began to chuckle at the scene as she, the vampire queen, was trying to comfort her human friend, though she held the chuckle back to prevent Finn from getting upset even more. Finn began to calm down as he realized she didn't mean to get him upset like she used to. She stopped trying to upset him long ago.

"I'm sorry about that Marcy." Finn apologized to the vampire for his behavior. "It's just that...I want to be left alone, that's all."

"What's this?" Marceline floated upside down in front of Finn but maintained enough distance to not make it awkward. "Ooo's greatest hero's giving up on life?"

"I've got nothing to live for!" Finn shouted, before rolling over to look away from her. "Ever since I lost her, I don't see any reason to keep on living."

"What was your reason for living before you met her?" Finn was shocked by this question as it seemed to calm him down. Finn had to think about it for a long time and in the meantime there was only silence between the two. After heavy thinking to the point that his head started to hurt, Finn found an answer he was satisfied with.

"I...I...I just want to protect the ones around me… to keep them safe… and make sure that nothing bad happens to them." Finn finally replied as Marceline moved back in front of him, though a tad bit closer than before.

"See?" Marceline said with a smile that Finn found surprisingly warm which was weird considering who was giving him the smile. "That wasn't so hard to figure out. I know you're sad about what happened and you have every right to be but lying in bed all day moping about it isn't going to help anyone." Finn knew Marceline was right, as was Jake and BMO. He had to go apologize to them when he got the chance. Finn sat up on his bed as Marceline float down to the floor.

"You're right, Marcy. Something like that won't get me anywhere." Finn admitted. He felt sort of better coming to the realization that he could still be sad… though he still needed to be optimistic.

"Good boy! Now come on, there's a scary movie playing at the theater and I think we should give the crowd a real scare..." Marceline said deviously. Finn couldn't help smile, something that he hadn't done for a while and decided to accept the vampire's invitation, hoping it would help him feel better. As Marceline whisked the young boy with her for what would be a rather interesting night, Finn was already glad that to have people like Jake and BMO and… Marceline as well.

**A/N So if you guys liked this story, be sure to tell me so I can decide it's fate. **

**Will it be a one-shot forever?**

**Or will there be more to this story then meets the eye?**

**You decide! **

**Sal out!**


	2. Distractions

**A/N You want it? YOU GOT IT! Sal Here with the continuation. Enjoy the chapter, tell me how I did, and I'll see you guys later! Sal out!  
**

_**Ch. 2 Distractions**_

At the Ooo drive-in theater that was now redesigned to have a roof in case of rain, the sounds of screaming could be heard from the screen as the movie of the night continued to play.

"Whatever you do," the female lead pleaded with some male who looked like a jock. "Do not open that door!"

"Why," The oblivious man asked as he moved to the door. He should have listened. The crowd's reaction to the gruesomeness of the scene with the sounds of frantic blood curtailing screaming was of shock, awe, and fear.

But it would get even more terrifying as the monster approached the female lead, an army of demonic looking animals covered in what looked like blood burst through the screen and chased the helpless moviegoers out of the theater. They were led by two cackling black cloaked figures riding two possessed looking wolves. As the terrified attendant ran home with pants full of urine, the animals ceased their chase and instead just sort of lounged around harmlessly. The two cloaked figures then began to laugh hard as they removed their masks to show Finn and Marceline.

"Did you see their faces?!" Finn asked as he bent over laughing.

"I wonder how many wet themselves!" Marceline shouted as she floated around holding her sides as she remembered one of the moviegoers hosing his pants before actually running. "Bonus points if you think there's luggage in the trunk!" Finn began to laugh harder at their prank while all the animals that Marceline made to look vicious but were actually quite tame, including the wolves, just sort of lounged around or went back where they came from.

A bunny hopped over to Marceline which she picked up. The bunny looked bloody and had false teeth in to look like fangs.

"Who's a little fluff ball of death?" Marceline said as she pet the small animal.

"Getting soft, are we?" Finn teased.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Marceline asked rather slyly.

Once Finn and Marceline made their remarks towards one another, the duo slightly chuckled at their cheesy lines. Finn, for his part, was starting to feel a little better; it wasn't much, but at least he was able to crack a smile for a chance, something Marceline noted.

"Looks like you've loosened up a bit finally."

"Yeah Marcy, I actually have. Still though, I don't feel like heading back to the Tree Fort." said Finn.

In response, the vampire pondered for a moment, thinking on what she and her friend could do next. Then, an idea hit her on the head.

"Here's what I got..." Marceline began, before she whispered her idea in Finn's ear. After a minute or so, the teenager slowly smiled, thrilled what he just heard.

***A short time later***

LSP was sitting around a campfire she made at her current campsite singing about her lumps while roasting some marshmallows she got from her mother.

While LSP continue to sang and eat her marshmallows all at the same time, Finn, Marceline and BMO looked on from behind the bushes, amused by LSP vain attempt in singing about her lumps.

"Ready guys?" Marceline asked quietly.

"I am ready." BMO announced as quietly as it could.

"Same here." With everyone ready and in position, Marceline gave the signal for Finn to go. Finn picked up a rock on the ground and chucked it at a pile of cans that LSP had set up.

LSP became startled by this, demanding to know who's there, though is a bit freaked out.

"W-who's there?! S-show yourself!" LSP nervously demanded. Suddenly, Marceline began to shake some branches while staying out of sight by using a very thin rope that LSP wouldn't be able to see from her campsite.

"W-who's ever there," LSP tried to sound brave but couldn't hide the fear. "Just lumping quit!" Finn presses play on BMO as it starts to play scary sounds that Marceline and Finn recorded earlier.

LSP is now totally terrified by this point, floating nervously and looking around her surroundings, wondering what will happen next. But then, LSP felt a breeze right behind her and before she knew, a certain vampire uttered one single word.

"Boo." Marceline said just loud enough for her to hear.

Startled by this, LSP gave out the loudest scream for all of Ooo to hear, before she fainted to the ground, as Finn and BMO joined up with Marceline to laugh together at their success.

"Oh... that was funny!" Marceline said as she inspected their handy work while cradling BMO. "What do you think, BMO?"

"I think we may have over done it..." BMO noted as it looked at LSP on the ground.

"Eh," Finn shrugged after calming down. "She'll be fine." Marceline would be lying if she said she wasn't happy to see Finn back to normal. Though now that she had this momentum, they needed to keep it rolling... and she knew exactly how.

"Hey Finn," Marceline said as she floated over to him. "I know exactly what we can do for a finale!" She began to whisper in his ear before a devious grin came to his face.

It took them a long while, but Finn, Marceline and BMO eventually made their way to Ash's house. The moment they spotted the building, bitterness and anger boiled over them, especially for the vampire queen. She still hated the jerk-off for what he did, who even tried to make her into his eternal servant. Thankfully for her, she did manage to kick him in his pride and beat him up, before heading home. Still, she wants to make him suffer and this should be the perfect opportunity to do so.

Finn reached into his bag and pulled out a special powder that Marceline had gotten from her house.

"So this will allow us to mess with his dreams, right?" Finn asked as he held the bag.

"That's what my dad told me," Marceline raised her head out of the bush to see if he was still awake. "He may lie a lot but he actually taught me how to use this stuff so we should be fine."

"Well if you say so." Finn and BMO both peeped out of the bush and waited.

After waiting for what felt like forever, Ash finally went to sleep, giving the trio an opportunity, as Marceline grabbed Finn, along with BMO and floated towards the window, they smiled deviously at the thought of the many pranks they intended to pull on him.

Marceline opened the window and floated Finn and BMO inside so they wouldn't make any noise and then floated the two over to the bed.

"Alright you guys, do you know what to do?" asked Marceline.

"Sure, we know what to do." Finn replied.

"Ditto." BMO added.

Satisfied by this, Marceline allows Finn to make his way to Ash, as the teenager blew some powder at his face and soon enough, their mischievous prank can begin.

Ash was relaxing on what appeared to be a beach, surrounded by beautiful women, drinking a tropical drink and living in a beautiful beach house.

"Ah this is the life…" Ash spoke to himself. As Ash was minding his own business and relaxing in the sun, all of a sudden, one of the coconuts snapped and landed right on top of his face, smashing into several pieces and breaking his nose in the process.

"OW!" Ash moaned, before the women around him suddenly fled from him.

"Hey! Come back! Who's going to make me a sandwich?!" Ash complained.

"WHY DON'T YOU MAKE IT YOURSELF?!" Said a booming demonic voice that Ash couldn't recognize. Suddenly, giant sandwich ingredients fell from the sky and almost crushed Ash. Turkey, tomato, also pickles.

Startled by this, Ash quickly head to the nearest cave for cover, all the while trying to figure out what was going on all of a sudden.

"That was totally weird just now." he muttered to himself. "Why was it raining turkey and vegetables all of a sudden?"

"TOMATOES ARE ACTUALLY FRUIT!" And out of nowhere, all the tomatoes grew in size along with sprouting arms and legs. "AND NOW THEY'RE GONNA KILL YOU! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Ash is startled by this and ran from the killer tomatoes, all the while screaming like a little girl.

Back in the real world, Finn, Marceline and BMO are laughing their heads off, amazed to hear such a girly scream out of him.

"Oh man, I can't believe Ash actually sounds like that." Finn commented, trying to hold down his laughter.

"I know, Finn..." Marceline agreed with her friend. "What a dork."

"Think he's had enough?" Finn asked, knowing the answer anyway.

"Hell no! Let's see how long we can drag this out..." Marceline said deviously as he took the microphone.

So for the next several minutes, Finn and Marceline continued to torture Ash as much as they can, from stripping him down to his underwear:

"What happened to my pants?!" Ash said as he ran towards his beach house in his underwear.

To his beach house suddenly becoming alive and attempting to pulverize him like mincemeat:

"MUST SQUASH ASH!" The now sentient house shouted.

In a state of panicked, Ash ran from the living beach house as fast as he can, all the while avoiding the oncoming fist.

"Aw man, this can't be happening to me! I swear things can't get any worse!" Ash shouted. He dove into the water hoping they couldn't get him out there which he was relieved to see that he was right. "Hahahaha! Losers!"

He swam around only to come face to face with sharks. But not just any sharks; sandwich sharks.

"I knew this was too good to be true!" Ash expressed his disbelief, before he swam back to the island as fast as he can. He swam with such energy and need that he swam through the sand before climbing up a palm tree. "I should be safe up he-" Suddenly, lightning struck the palm tree and caused it to come crashing down conveniently in front of all the things trying to "kill" him.

"Please just let it end." Marceline thought about it before sitting back to what Ash get "eaten" by the killer tomatoes and sandwich sharks. "OH MY GLOB! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAA!"

"Now he has enough." Marceline nonchalantly said.

"Let's get out of here," Finn said stretching as they walked (or in Marceline's case floated) to the door to leave. "Before he figures out it was us and comes for revenge. I'd rather not have to deal with that guy again."

"Here here." Marceline agreed as she picked up Finn from under his arms and floated away from Ash's as he woke up.

After what felt like forever, Marceline finally brought Finn and BMO back to their tree fort, dropping them gently to the ground, as Finn and BMO faced the vampire.

"Thanks for the entertainment, Marceline!" Finn said genuinely.

"Thank you for bringing me along!" BMO added.

"It's all good, you guys. I was just happy that everything went according to plan." Marceline assured the two. "Anyway, I have to get going now. The sun is about to rise." Marceline pointed to the horizon where a faint light could be seen. The sun still had a ways to go but dawn was approaching fast. "Later guys!"

Finn and BMO said their goodbyes to Marceline as she floated away before the two went inside, determined to get some sleep after staying up for so long.

"So Finn, how are you feeling?" BMO asked as they walked in.

"I feel pretty good thanks to Marceline. Maybe we should hang out more often." BMO had a sly look on his electronic face that Finn doesn't really see as he climbed up the ladder. Finn puts on his red pajamas before just landing lazily on his bed.

Finn closed his eyes, taking a long sleep. But then, he felt something that caused him to wake up and is surprised to find himself floating in nothingness.

"What the-?" Finn asked no one in particular. "What is this place?! It's kinda freaking me out here." It wasn't like those dreams where you saw the cosmic owl; oh no. It was nothing but pure blackness with Finn being the only thing illuminated. As Finn looked around, trying to figure out where he is, he spotted what appeared to be a red-orange glow. Before long, the glow kept getting brighter, until it finally stopped dead in its track and to Finn's shock, the glow revealed the last person he ever expected.

"F-Flame Princess, is that you?" he asked, his voice croaked with uneasiness. He suddenly felt a solid ground form beneath him.

"Yes Finn. I'm back!" Flame Princess said with a smile. But that smile felt... wrong. Instead of being happy to see her... all the sadness that had engulfed Finn the past week had returned... full force.

"Flame Princess, I'm so sorry I didn't save you back then. But I swear, I can make it up to you somehow." Finn pleaded with the princess.

"Thank you Finn but I'm sorry I can't stay here much longer. I have to go; it was good seeing your face again." Flame Princess stated, before she suddenly got extremely far in a very short time.

"Flame Princess, please don't go!" Finn pleaded, as he desperately chased after her. But it was in vain. No matter how fast Finn ran, Flame Princess got farther and farther away. After her glow was finally gone, Finn collapsed to his knees before breaking down again.

"I was so close, I was really close." Finn muttered, lamenting that he wasn't able to reach Flame Princess.

But then, the teenager sensed an unseen force, prompting to look up and spot a door that he didn't recall seeing there before.

"What the math is this?" Finn asked, before he opened the door and soon, light began to envelop the stunned teenager.

Finn's eyes opened wide and quickly got up from his bed, his head sweating like mad, before he looked around, realizing that he's back in the real world.

BMO was in standby mode so he really wasn't aware of anything. Finn looked at the clock to see that it was now around noon; a full six hours later from when he went to bed. Finn groaned as he laid back down and lamented to himself that he had to have such an awful dream.

"Well I think I've gotten enough sleep for now," Finn said as he got out of bed. "Might as well go do _something._"

Finn looked at Jake's bed and saw he wasn't there so he figured he was either downstairs or at Lady's house. Well after combing the entirety of the tree fort and not finding Jake, it became pretty obvious where he was.

It took at least an hour for Finn but he finally arrived at Lady's house. As he knocked on the door, he was hoping his brother was there and he could at least apologize to him for his behavior. Jake opened the door and immediately started to grin as he hugged his brother.

"Finn! You're out of bed!" Jake said ecstatically.

"Yes I am Jake and I felt a little better right now." Finn assured his brother.

"It's good to see you back your old self." said Jake, before he took sniff at Finn and plugged his nose. "But first, you need to take a shower. Seriously, you're going to attract the undead in that state."

"Well... true." Considering the night he had, a lot of things could be put up for debate with that line.

"Shower's upstairs," Jake said as they both stepped inside. The house didn't look any different from the last time Finn was there for when he and Finn had that argument over the "Jake Suit". He really needed to visit more... or they need to redecorate.

Finn made his way up the stairs and went into the bathroom. He got undressed and turned the water on before stepping in. After several minutes, Finn stepped out to see clean clothes sitting next to the sink. Finn got dressed before heading back down stairs.

"So how's everything turning out Finn?" Jake asked his brother. "What finally persuaded you to get out of bed?"

"...Let's just say that someone showed up and showed me a good time." Finn half-heartedly replied. Jake just stood there with his mouth slightly ajar as he tried to come up with a response. Eventually he just gave up and resorted to the only thing he could think of:

"What to go on an adventure?" Jake asked to break the awkward silence.

"Where?" Finn smiled but really had no idea where they could go adventuring.

"Who cares? If we have to we can always just mess with Ice King."

"Sure man, anything just to start the day off." Finn agreed with his brother.

"So it's settled..." Jake began. "It's time to drop by to the Ice Kingdom." He smiled evilly while rubbing his hands together just as evilly.

With that, the two bumped fists before setting off, determined to have a good time for a change.


	3. Problems Not So Easily Solved

**A/N This is a message to anyone who would like a bit more power in determining where this story goes. More is explained in the author note at the bottom.  
**

**But enough of that: On with the show!**

_**Ch.3 Problems Not So Easily Solved**_

Just outside the Ice Kingdom, Finn and Jake were on their way to mess with Ice King just because they had nothing better to do.

"…help…" A voice could just barely be heard by Jake's dog ears.

"Finn, did you hear something?" Jake and Finn stopped and listened.

"…help…" A female voice could be heard coming from inside the Ice King's tower.

"It sounds like Ice King stole another princess!" Finn said as he rode on Jake's back.

"I thought I told him what would happen if he stole another princess!" Jake said, clearly annoyed by Ice King's antics.

"It's Ice King, man." Finn said calmly. "That guy's too dumb to be told no."

"You may have a point." Jake said as they entered the Ice Kingdom. "Well I better stick to my threat." Jake walked up to the side of the tower and proceeded to stretch until Finn could peek through the window, just to see the Ice King fawning over Wildberry Princess who was in his prison.

"Please! Will you marry me? I've done everything a person like me can do!" Ice King was on his knees outside WP's cell.

"No. Just let me out. Help anyone." Wildberry Princess was still as quiet as ever.

"Okay," Finn began quietly. "Who gets first punch?" Finn asked.

"Hmm..." Jake thought about how to settle it. "Oh! We'll settle this with a classic; rock, paper, scissors!" Jake suggested just quiet enough for Ice King to not hear them out his window.

"One, two, three, shoot!" the brothers exclaimed as quietly as they could. Finn threw paper while Jake threw rock.

"Jake, man," Finn chuckled. "You need to pick something other than rock all the time."

"Rock is too cool to have me pick something else. Besides, paper and scissors should be happy they even get put in the game with rock." Jake moved to where Finn could jump through the window.

"Dropkick!" Finn yelled as he kicked Ice King in the face.

"Ow! What the-" the Ice King angrily said, before he noticed Finn in front of him. "Oh, so you're finally out of your bed! I thought for sure it'll be a while before I see your face again. Well I guess I'll have to put you BACK!" Ice King shot a frost beam at Finn who promptly stood out of the way but watched as it covered the window.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" Jake shouted from outside. Finn looked back and punched Ice King before grabbing his crown and chucking it across the room.

"My crown!" Ice King tried to crawl to get it but was stopped by Finn who wound up to punch Ice King again. "No! Please, Finn! Not the face again!" Finn instead punched him in the gut before he grabbed some rope out of his bag and tied up the Ice King while Jake busted through the frozen wall.

"Sorry to get you all tied up, Ice King!" Jake joked as he pointed and laughed at the helpless king. Finn walked over to the door of the cell.

"Hey Jake!" Finn called to his brother as he stopped laughing. "Give me a hand with this, will ya?" Jake walked over to the cell door before grabbing it and ripping it off its hinges.

"Thanks for saving me, Finn and Jake." Wildberry Princess expressed her gratitude to the duo.

"No prob, Wildberry Princess!" Finn began. "Just doing what we do best!"

"Achoo!" Wildberry Princess sneezed quietly, causing one of the berries to fall off.

"We should probably get her out of here before her cold gets worse." Jake suggested.

"Okay!" Finn agreed. "Where's the nearest hospital?" Finn would go on to regret asking.

"It's in the Candy Kingdom," Jake said calmly without noticing exactly what he said. Well he did when he caught a glimpse of Finn's sudden change in expression. He went from the happy-go-lucky Finn that Jake was so used to seeing to the darker, more hatred and/or sadness filled Finn that Jake was getting too used to seeing. "Dude, I know what you're thinking, but at least do this for Wildberry Princess." Jake urged his brother.

"Can't you go?" Finn pleaded as he really, REALLY did not want to step in the town as he didn't want to have to deal with Bubblegum. But Jake's expression was stern. "...Fine, but only as long as I don't see her face again." Finn reluctantly agreed.

"Then hop on everyone!" Jake asked as Finn and Wildberry Princess hopped on as well. Jake made haste for the candy kingdom before shrinking down to enter the town. The place really healed since... the incident but the scars could still be seen. The two then escorted Wildberry Princess to the hospital but along the way, Finn noticed that a lot of glances were coming his way. Normally when they came to the Candy Kingdom, no one really looked their way because it was normal to see them around. But today, it was a little… creepy how many candy people were noticing them now. Finn didn't bring it to Jake's attention as he basically was just as oblivious as ever.

They walked into the hospital and were immediately greeted by Doctor Princess.

"Hello Finn and Jake. Hello Wildberry Princess." She greeted happily from behind the front desk.

"Hey Doc," Jake greeted back. "Can you check on Wildberry Princess here? She seems to have caught a cold from the Ice Kingdom."

"Of course," She came around the desk to offer Wildberry Princess her glove-covered hand. "Follow me, Princess." Wildberry took the hand and was lead to the back.

"Okay so our work here is done." Finn was stopped by Jake stretching his arm to stop him.

"Listen," Jake began. "I know you want to leave so once we know that Wildberry Princess is fine, and then we can go." Jake said as he let Finn go.

"Why? She's in good hands now! I don't see why we need to be here!" Finn argued.

"Is this thing with PB going to last forever?" Jake asked, hoping it doesn't

"Jake..." Finn darkly began.

"Alright Finn, calm down. I didn't mean it like that." Jake defensively said.

"Don't... go there... again." Finn emphasized. Jake sighed and nodded to show that he understood Finn but that wouldn't be the end.

"You don't want to be here? Fine, then," Jake said, giving in. "Just let me do one thing while I'm here and then we can go. It'll only take a second."

"Alright." Finn agreed, loosening up. "We'll split the difference." Jake walked over to Doctor Princess who was in the back.

"So how is she doing?" Jake asked. "You know, Jake Jr.?

"You'll be happy to know that the operation on her face was a complete success but she's asleep right now." Doctor Princess said, getting a happy reaction out of Jake.

"I'll be back to check on her later then!" Jake said as he went back to the front. "Okay Finn we can go no-" And Finn was nowhere to be seen. "That kid! What am I gonna do with him!" Jake ran out of the hospital to see Finn walking towards the gate.

"Finn!" Jake yelled as he caught up. "When I said 'It'll only take a second', I didn't mean literally!"

"Well you still took too long," Finn said as they crossed the draw bridge to exit the city. "Every second I spend in there is another second I could run into… HER!" Finn shouted as he pointed at Bubblegum's castle. Meanwhile at the top of the castle in question, stood the "her" that Finn spoke of; Princess Bubblegum as she looked down towards Finn and Jake as they left town. Though she couldn't hear what they were talking about, she could take a pretty good guess and probably be right.

"Finn..." Princess Bubblegum spoke in a tone of sadness, as she shed a single tear. "I'll make it up to you... I swear..." Bubblegum then returned inside.

***Elsewhere***

Marceline was floating around her house in what she went to bed with, too lazy and groggy to change into anything else.

She yawned loudly while she stretched and floated down from her bedroom. Marceline caught a glimpse of the clock after she finished stretching.

"Three o'clock already…?" Marceline yawned again. "Well I don't want to be too lazy…" Marceline then began to float over her very uncomfortable couch that was more for decoration than anything else. "Now," Marceline began to look around the room for something to do. She didn't want to go anywhere yet. "What to do…?" She then spotted her ax-bass that was just sitting in the corner looking a little neglected. "Why not?" Marceline said shrugging lazily. She then floated over and picked up the bass before strumming it to check the tuning. "Wow… How long has it been since I played you? A week?" Marceline said smiling as she retuned her bass. After getting to the perfect tune, she began to play with no real song she knew in mind but rather what she felt like playing. As the music began to flow, her mind started to wander…

'I wonder how much better Finn is doing...' Marceline thought, before she realized what she had thought about just now. 'Why am I so concerned?' Marceline stopped playing and instead starting thinking about it. But then a feeling came over her, one she hadn't had in quite a while but was still familiar. "No… I said I liked him and I even made it clear to him it wasn't like that." Marceline continued to talk to herself. "And yet, it didn't seem right to say those things." Marceline then began to smile. "Nah! It's just my imagination!" Marceline exclaimed as she continued to play.

***Elsewhere… again***

Finn and Jake were sitting at the table back at their tree fort. It had been silent between the two until Finn finally spoke.

"Sorry about my behavior back there, Jake." Finn genuinely apologized to his brother. "I still want things to cool out for a moment before I could try to give her another chance."

"Apology accepted Finn, but seriously, don't let all that anger in you bottle up. It's not cool at all." Jake stated to his brother.

"Hey Jake can I tell you something?" Finn went on to tell Jake about the dream he had the night before, which managed to stump someone as talkative as Jake. Under normal circumstances, he would have told Finn to just shake it off or it was just a nightmare. But normal circumstances they weren't. Jake could only think of one thing to say.

"I know it's still so recent since... it happened." Jake said subtly but Finn's expression still turned dark, cutting Jake off.

"If I had done things differently... Would FP still be alive?" Finn asked his brother.

"I don't know, Finn..." Jake admitted. "But I know you can't blame yourself or PB for what happened.

"Then who do I blame?" Finn demanded.

"That's not the point, Finn. You need to let go of the past and move on. What's done is done" Jake insisted.

"No! Flame Princess was the only one I felt actually returned my feelings for them! How would you feel if Lady Rainicorn just suddenly died?" Finn shouted.

"Don't go there, man!" Jake retaliated angrily.

"What happened to FP shouldn't have happened to anyone and you know it!" Finn yelled at his brother.

"Finn, how many people could have been killed if we didn't do anything?!" Jake countered.

"We could have still save FP and save everyone at the same time." Finn adamantly stated.

"It's not like we didn't try, Finn!" Jake was losing ground to stand on in this argument.

"So you're telling me that killing her was the best option instead of restraining her?!" Finn questioned his brother.

"Finn, she was made out of fire! What did we have that could restrain that?!" Jake argued.

"Obviously a spell, Jake and no one didn't bother using one!" Finn replied with annoyance.

Oh really, Finn?! Then please tell me where you would have gotten this spell?! Would you just pull it out of your ass?!" Jake swore, taking Finn off guard. In response, Finn smacked Jake upside the face, too fed up to hear another word out of him. "That's it!" Jake tackled Finn and the two began to rumble. They tumbled around the floor trading blows before BMO came down and nearly blinded them with strobe light mode.

"Please stop fighting right away!" BMO pleaded to its friends. "I don't like where this going and it has to stop right now!"

"Sorry, BMO..." Finn and Jake apologized as they got off each other and stood in front of BMO. Despite their apologies, BMO was still uncertain whether or not the two were done with their arguments. "I think it's best if you two spent a little time away from each other to cool off. A couple days should be good for you two." BMO suggested, not knowing if its plan would work or if it was a good one at all…

"...Actually, that's a good idea, BMO. It's best if we spent some time apart to cool off." Jake agreed with BMO but his face told that it was a bad idea as his face was still full of anger and spite.

"Agreed." said Finn with an equal expression. Jake then climbed down the latter and a faint door slam could be heard. All Finn could do was walk towards the latter, still angry. "Well so much for having a good day..." Finn shouted as he climbed upstairs.

"Don't worry Finn; everything would turn out alright in time." BMO assured the depressed boy. He received no response, obviously not a good sign from the little robot's point of view. "I hope…"

**A/N Even brothers with a bond made of steel and wrapped in reflective foil can have their low points apparently. I won't know; I don't have any. Well by blood anyway.**

**There's a lot of text but read it through; You might find this enjoyable. **

**Okay so here's the deal: I currently have 6 possible endings for this story. Ikr? That's too many so I would like some help cutting them down. I won't tell you what they are but there are certain... parameters that each ending shares but also differences that may either be minute or huge in scale. I've always want to have the readers of the story that come in right away and like/love the work I've made and give them more power to show that I do care about them and what they have to say. Call it my way of giving back.  
**

**I'm going to ask you a series of questions that dictate how this story is told and where it can end. This is completely optional and if no one or very little participate... then I will pick my own answer and continue from there. These will continue until an... optimal ending (or one) has been narrowed down to. First question is probably the most important as it paves the way towards all the endings but doesn't effect the basics of the endings. I already have a way of continuing with each one and I've also have my own answer but will not use it depending on certain factors.**

**_First Question: What age should Finn be? _**

**_A: 14 B: 15 C: 16 D:17_**

**Choose well...**

**I'll post Ch. 4 in a week but if you need more time, I can hold off if you give me some notice.**

**Till next time; Sal out!**


	4. A Change of Pace

_**Ch. 4 A Change of Pace**_

***The next… noon***

Finn began to wake up if you could call it that. After yesterday, Finn found it hard to sleep; his mind just racing with various thoughts on recent events, the one with Flame Princess being one of them…

"_All will burn!"_

"_This has to stop!"_

"_AHHHHH!"_

"_NOOOO!"_

Finn shivered in his blankets at the memory was too painful to remember. It was noon again as Finn threw his blanket off of him and walked over to the dresser. He throws a shirt over his head before he suddenly hears a rip. He looks behind him to see his shirt ripped.

"Well," Finn said to himself. "Looks like I'll have to get some new clothes again." Finn took the shirt off to get a good look at the rip.

"What's wrong, Finn?" asked BMO as he just rebooted.

"My shirt ripped." Finn said holding up his shirt. "I think I might want to get some new clothes."

"That or you should lose a few pounds." BMO jokingly suggested.

"Hey! This is all muscle," Finn said flexing his bicep. "Besides; a new look might be a good thing. I've basically worn the same type of thing for the past how many years of my life?"

"I cannot argue with that." BMO agreed with the teenager. Finn searched for a shirt that still fit and threw it on before heading down to the ground floor with a little bag.

"First I need some money," Finn grabbed some coins and filled up the bag. "Look after the place while I'm gone, BMO!" Finn exclaimed on the way out.

"They will not be able to take this fort while BMO is in command!" With that, Finn left to get some new clothes.

***Meanwhile***

Marceline woke up hours earlier then she usually did but then again sleeping was more a thing she did when she needed to pass time then it was a necessity. She yawned as she lazily flew around her house, trying to decide what to do. She looks to her bass but she wasn't really in the best of moods to really pick it up.

"Next time, old friend…" She whispered as she stroked the strings before looking to her video cabinet.

"Maybe I could watch a movie," Marceline opened the cabinet and scanned her eyes over the various tapes. Most of them were horror movies of course but a few were about adventure since Finn would sometimes forget about his tapes when he and Jake came over to show her the movies. She thought about maybe returning them when her eye caught a tape she didn't recognize. "What's this? 'Rise of the Night of the Undead'? When did I get this movie?" She took the tape out and put it in the VCR before pressing play and floating over to the couch.

***One viewing later***

Marceline was floating over her couch with a bowl of grayed-out fruit, looking at the TV with amazement at how awesome the movie was.

"Wow, I can't believe I haven't seen this before!" Marceline commented. "This is definitely my kind of movie!" Marceline took the tape out of the VCR before putting it back in its case. "Finn and Jake have got to see this!" Marceline grabbed umbrella before flying out to the home of two of the few true friends she had.

***Elsewhere***

Finn was walking through Wildberry Kingdom when he came across his destination; a clothing store where supposedly one of the best known tailors in Ooo worked. Finn walked in and took a good look around. The walls were an odd shade of green that went well with the white tile floor. A carpet was in the middle that made an aisle that had nothing but racks of clothing and some shelves for shoes on both sides. From casual to the most uptight of formal apparel, the store appeared to be everything Finn had heard. Finn looked to where the carpet ended to see the store's cash register and check out.

"Hello?" Finn called out. No answer right away but there was a response. Suddenly, Finn felt something go across his waist. He looked down to see that it was measuring tape.

"Twenty eight waist? My glob, boy; have you considered eating?" Finn looks around to see a small brown humanoid with a curly mustache. He looked nothing like the general populace of the Wildberry Kingdom as he didn't look the least bit fruit like. Though he's small stature must have helped him fit in well enough.

"Whoa! Where did you come from?!" a surprised Finn exclaimed.

"Never mind about that! I need to make sure I got you measurements right." the small brown humanoid replied. The humanoid then pressed a button on his shoes that allowed him to get taller to measure Finn's shoulders. "Broad twenty," He then checked his arms. "Twenty two from wrist to shoulder while… eighteen from waist to shoulder," He pressed his shoe's button again to drop to the floor to measure Finn's legs which started to make Finn a little uncomfortable. "Twenty-eight pant leg... Okay I'm done here." The humanoid then put away his tape before pulling out a clipboard and started marking down Finn's measurements.

"What was that all about?" asked Finn, demanding an answer from the humanoid.

"You came for clothes, didn't you?" The humanoid turned around to face Finn. "I need to know your measurements to we can get you clothing that fits you the best. By the way; Name?"

"Um… Finn," Finn said a little unsure if that's what he meant but after the humanoid motioned for more, he knew he had it right. "Finn the Human."

"Ah, the 'Hero of Ooo'. I thought your hat looked familiar." The humanoid then continued to walk towards the back while signaling for Finn to follow. "So what kind of clothes do you want? Formal, casual, what?"

"Normal clothes would be nice." Finn said simply.

"Well... do you still want the basic gist of what you're wearing now like a t-shirt and shorts?" The humanoid asked.

"Well maybe some pants too..." Finn shrugged. Finn finally looked at the name tag the humanoid was wearing. "...Aaron."

"Follow me then," Aaron then walked over to some racks near the register. "Pick out some shirts you like. I've calculated your size to be, at the safest, a large." Finn nodded that he understood before looking through the rack for some shirts. Finn found a shirt that was his size that was his favorite shade of blue but then caught a glimpse of a shirt with a color so familiar. The shirt was a shade of red-orange that reminded Finn of Flame Princess. Because of this, Finn stared at the shirt, unsure of what he really should do.

"Found what you needed?" Aaron asked Finn, snapping the teenager back into reality.

"Um..." Finn grabbed the shirt and saw it was his size. "Yeah that should do for shirts." He grabbed two more exactly like the first two and followed Aaron to another rack.

"Here is where you can find the best pants that I can offer." Aaron explained to Finn. "Pick one that suits you the most."

"How durable are these pants?" Finn asked. Aaron chuckled as he knew why Finn was asking.

"Durable enough for your line of work, Finn." Aaron replied.

"Well I guess I could try some on..." Finn grabbed about ten different pairs of pants and shorts before being directed by Aaron to the dressing room.

***Back at the Fort***

Marceline, never being one to actually use a door except at her house, popped her head through the window in Finn's room.

"Hey Finn, are you here? I got something to show-" was all Marceline said before BMO ambushed the unsuspecting vampire.

"BMO CHOP!" BMO said before delivering a light hit to Marceline's head. "Oh it is you, Marceline."

"Hey BMO, have you seen Finn around?" Marceline questioned the robot.

"He went to buy new clothes. His old ones were getting small." BMO said as Marceline picked him off her back and set him down on the bed.

"Well, it's about time Finn gets some new threads." Marceline spoke with amusement. "Though let's hope he actually picks something not baby blue like he did last time he went clothes shopping." Marceline continued as she looked down at BMO.

"Yeah, Finn should have some fashion sense by now." the robot stated.

"Yeah he's what now? Seventeen?" Marceline joked, not taking into account what she was actually saying. "I probably should have made him change what he wore years ago."

"Oh really now?" BMO asked in a sly tone. Though unlike Finn, Marceline knew what he meant from years of speaking that way herself.

"Haha, very funny BMO." Marceline sarcastically replied. Marceline flew out of the room before heading downstairs. BMO followed after Marceline in the process, who was still a bit irked by the robot's comment, though it was enough to get her thinking about awkward subjects before she shook the thoughts away.

When Marceline got downstairs she took a good look at the living room before closing all the curtains to keep the sunlight out. She then turned on the overhead light so it wasn't completely dark.

"Much better." Marceline said to herself.

"So, you're just going to wait here until Finn comes back?" BMO asked Marceline.

"Well he has to come home eventually. Besides; it's not like this is the first time I've broken in here." Marceline said after floating over to the couch.

"Good point." BMO nonchalantly said.

"So ya got anything red?" BMO thought it over.

"Tomatoes?"

"Perfect!" Marceline exclaimed as she floated into the kitchen. BMO could only sigh as he listened to Marceline raiding the fridge for red foods.

***Back with Finn***

Finn had tried on all the clothes he picked out and liked them all. They all fit well and were even flexible for Finn to still do his thing while being comfortable doing it.

"Will that be all, sir?" Finn nodded before pulling out his bag of coins and handing it to Aaron. "Alright, these will do nicely." said Aaron, as he happily accepted the bag of coins. Finn then left with his bag full of clothes and even wearing one of the outfits he picked out, the red-orange shirt that reminded him of Flame Princess and a pair of loose charcoal colored shorts. On the way out he caught a glimpse of himself in his new attire and even he had to admit that he liked what he saw.

'_It's different… but the change still looks awesome!' _Finn thought as he continued out of the store. Pleased with his new look, Finn decided to head back home, somewhat happy that today turned out far better compared to yesterday.

***One trek later***

Marceline was lying on the couch, too bored to float as she waited for Finn.

"Geez did he buy the whole store and lug it on his back?! Where is he?!" Marceline shouted as she grayed out a third tomato. Suddenly her ears picked up on the whistling outside the fort. The whistling turned to singing that Marceline recognized and caused a devious smile to appear on her face. Marceline turned to BMO and motioned for it to be silent as she quickly flew to the light switch and turned all the lights in the living room off. She then hid in the darkest corner with the best view. Finn could then be heard opening the door.

"BMO, I'm home!" Finn shouted through the house but he didn't receive an answer. "Odd… probably didn't hear me," Finn climbed the ladder to the second floor but when he got in the living room, all the curtains had been drawn and the lights turned off. He smirked just as Marceline was sneaking up behind him. "Hey Marceline," Finn said nonchalantly as he turned around to face her but didn't realize that she would be an inch from his face, making the air around them feel instantly awkward.

"Dammit! How did you know it was me?" Marceline demanded as she was clearly frustrated.

"I-it wasn't like it was hard," Finn said backing up a little to create a comfortable amount of distance. "Especially considering who you are and how you're the only one who would be in my house and make it so dark in here." Finn walked over to the light switch and flicked it on.

"Perhaps I'm losing my touch then." Marceline said to herself sadly.

"Not really... You just need new material." Finn said as he set his bag down. Marceline finally got a good look at Finn new outfit.

"It's strange seeing you in something that isn't baby blue." Marceline joked.

"Yeah, it really is." Finn admitted. "But they're just as comfortable as my old ones." Marceline had to admit the clothes that Finn picked out did suit him quite nicely. After looking him over for a little longer then most people would find comfortable, Marceline quickly remembered why she was there in the first place.

"Oh yeah, I just found this wicked movie that I thought you might want to check out. Want to drop by at my place?" Marceline said holding up the tape.

"Why didn't you call then?" Finn asked, wondering the point of coming over just to have them go to her place.

"My house was out of red food." Marceline shrugged.

"Well, I guess I could come by at your place for a bit then." Finn replied.

"Cool. By the way, I'm stealing all your red food." Marceline said as she grabbed a shopping bag and her umbrella off the table before flying out the window.

"H-hey!" Finn shouted in vain. He then saw all the grey tomatoes. "Ugh... so much for salsa..."

***Another shorter trek later***

Finn decided to follow Marceline back to her house, hoping that the vampire didn't suck out most of the red by the time he arrived. When he arrived, Finn thought it would be pointless to knock as she already knew he was coming so he just opened the door.

"Okay Marceline I'm he-"

"BAH!" Marceline dropped down from the ceiling and hovered right in Finn's face.

"WHA!" Finn shrieked as he honestly didn't see it coming and fell right on his bum. Marceline then started to laugh hysterically at her success.

"You should have seen the look on your face!" Marceline exclaimed, as she burst into laughter from her prank.

"Yeah yeah, you got me..." Finn admitted defeat as he couldn't help but smile. Marceline helped Finn up to his feet, allowing the teenager to regain his composure.

"You can make some popcorn if you feel like it." Marceline said as she floated over to the couch.

"I think I'll do that." Finn happily said. Finn then walked into the kitchen and got popcorn ready while Marceline got the movie going. After a few minutes, Finn was finally done making some popcorn and sat right next to Marceline on the couch. But as soon as he sat down, he felt his body ache, due to the roughness from said couch.

"You really need to get rid of this couch..." Finn said as he shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't see what the big deal is." Marceline nonchalantly said. "The couch seems fine to me."

"That's because you're always floating above it." Finn pointed out. "Come down to my level and see how it feels." Finn said as he grabbed Marceline's wrist without thinking about it and with very little force as she let him drag her down to the couch.

"OW! That was really rough!" Marceline shouted at Finn.

"Well if you had a decent couch it wouldn't be so rough!" Marceline began to get teary eyed but Finn knew she was fine. "Marceline..."

"Can't you just play along? You're no fun..." Marceline said as she began to fake pouting. "But you're right... I do need a new couch..." Finn, for some reason, felt somewhat relieved that Marceline wasn't entirely upset from his action. "Okay! Enough with the delay! Let's watch this sucker!"

Finn and Marceline began to watch the movie and slowly but surely, the human teenager was beginning to enjoy himself, especially after watching certain moments from the film.

"No please! Don't put that in there! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The female on screen was screaming bloody murder as she was… murdered.

"Talk about overkill." Finn commented.

"Tell me about it..." Marceline began. "But I have to admit, the special effects aren't all that bad."

"Yeah," Finn agreed. "They're practically gushing blood from that..."

"It's a shame that there aren't any movies like this out there anymore." said Marceline. "At least ones that I have aren't this good."

"Yeah this is really good..." Finn agreed as he ate some more popcorn.

During one of the slower scenes a thought occurred to Marceline.

"Hey Finn?" Finn looks away from the movie to look at Marceline. "Where's Jake?"

Finn could only looked down, expressing a mixture of sadness and bitterness,

"We got into an argument and Jake is at Lady Rainicorn's place for awhile. Right now, we just needed some space."

"Really? Sounds like you two had quite the blowout." Marceline actually sounded surprised as she didn't think they would have that big of an argument.

"It was a bit more complicated than that." Finn said flatly.

What were you even fighting about?" Though from the way Finn looked, "You're not gonna tell me, are you?"

"...Promise me you won't tell anyone about this?" Finn asked the vampire.

"I'll probably forget it in a week so you don't have to worry. Also who am I gonna tell? I'm not exactly a social butterfly, Finn." Marceline joked causing Finn to chuckle with relief. Finn then explained to Marceline about yesterday's incident and how the argument was about Flame Princess, eventually turning sour and resulting in both of them getting into a physical fight.

"Whoa! Talk about hardcore." Marceline exclaimed, as she could imagine an argument about her going south like that. But what was funny is that Marceline didn't really know what happened.

_'Bonnie was really vague with what happened...'_ She turned back to Finn.

"Hey Finn, I'm sorry if this is too much to ask but what exactly happened that day?"

"Marceline, I don't want to talk about." Finn said, as his expression became a bit darker.

"I'm not really surprised but I had to try." Marceline said, turning back to the movie they weren't watching.

Finn is relieved that he didn't have to tell Marceline about the incident, before the two continued to watch the film up until the ending.

"Well?" Marceline asked. "What'd ya think?"

"That was one of the better movies in your collection." Finn replied.

"I still think Heat Signature has better suspense." Marceline argued.

"You just love that movie, don't you?" Finn said with a chuckle.

"It's a good movie! Lot better than some of the cheesier horror movies I got in that shelf." Marceline defended. Finn looked at the clock and wondered how it was eight already.

"Well I should be going…" Finn said as he stretched.

"See ya weenie." Marceline waved goodbye.

"I'm seventeen! Stop calling me a weenie!" Finn shouted as he got to the door.

"You are too weenie-ish for me to not call you one…" Finn opened the door to walk out when he caught a glimpse of the outside. Knife storm right the hell out of nowhere.

"Really? Of all the times you could have a knife storm..." Finn couldn't even finish. "Well looks like I'm stuck here!"

"Don't worry Finn, I don't mind company. I get so little that it's actually a pleasant change." Marceline assured the disappointed teenager.

"Where am I gonna sleep?" Finn said after sighing.

"You can sleep with me..." Finn blushed beat red before Marceline burst out laughing. "You're so gullible!"

"Seriously Marceline, don't do that again!" Finn scolded the vampire; his face still blushing with embarrassment.

"Well in that case I'll do it more often." Marceline continued to laugh at her own joke, while Finn still felt a bit embarrassed by the vampire's antics.

"No seriously where am I gonna sleep?"

"Isn't it obvious Finn? You can sleep on the couch." Marceline said with a look that matched her tone.

"No I think I'll take the ceiling before I take THAT thing." Finn said as he pointed to the cursed couch.

"Are you sure about that, Finn?" Marceline mischievously said.

***A little while later***

Finn is lying on the roof with a thin blanket and lumpy pillow. Marceline's idea of a joke no doubt.

"It's a bit rough, but at least the roof isn't as hard as a rock." Finn talked to himself. Finn then heard Marceline from the ground.

"Still want the roof?"

"Yeah I'm fine up here." Finn assured the vampire. Suddenly the wind blew through the cave entrance to where Finn was and that thin blanket that Marceline intentionally gave Finn wasn't going to help matters.

"You may want to reconsider your option, Finn." Marceline called out.

"N-n-no I'm f-f-fine..." Finn stuttered.

_'What a liar...'_ Marceline thought to herself as she shook her head.

"Well suit yourself then, but I'm leaving the door open in case you change your mind."

With that, Marceline went back inside, while Finn tried to get a good night sleep… though considering everything, that wasn't likely…

**A/N Hello everyone! Sal here and in the next chapter, it will be formally explained what happened to Flame Princess. That might seem like I'm spoiling you but really, you still don't know what happened.  
**

**I have a question for YOU! **

**Since the favorite answer is already obvious as I've made it so, we'll skip explaining that part. Thank you to all that voted though! :)**

**Little different this time. This time I want you to put the answers in your correct order. **

**This one is more like what do you guys want to see furthered. I think you could put a name to all of those answers though.**

_**If you were in Finn's position; in order, what would be most important to you?**_

_**A: Revenge B: Romance C: **_**_Reconciliation_ **

**Choose well...**

**Remember: This is completely optional. There are 6 possible combinations and each point towards a specific ending. **

**Can't wait to hear your answers! Till next time; Sal out!**


	5. Douse the Fires of Love

**A/N Hey everybody! Are you ready to find out about Flame Princess? I hope so because I actually think I came up with a good one. Btw the results of the last question are in the author note at the bottom.**

**Sorry this one took longer. I got sidetracked.**

**Anyway, let's get on with it!**

_**Ch. 5 Douse the Fires of Love**_

Finn is on the floor of Marceline's living room after giving up on sleeping outside dreaming. Faint sounds could be heard, indicating that his dreams were intense.

"No... don't… go…" Finn pleaded in his sleep.

Inside Finn's dream, Finn is walking up to Flame Princess' home for the past four years.

"Flame Princess! It's me!" Finn called out, before the fire humanoid made her way to greet the teenager.

"Finn! I'm so glad to see you!" Even after four years together, they still have problems figuring out safe ways to physically interact. Flame Princess then casted flame shield on Finn before proceeding to hug him tightly. Finn returned the hug with earnest. "How are you doing?"

"Great now that I'm here," Finn said quietly as they finally stop hugging.

"Good..." Flame Princess seemed extremely bashful which made Finn sort of wonder what was going on.

"So what did you want to talk about? From the way you were speaking into the special occasion phone, it seemed extremely urgent…" Finn said as he braced himself for whatever was coming up.

"Well…" FP began nervously as she got close to Finn... really close. "I was hoping to maybe find a way to take our relationship... to the next level?" She asked bashfully.

"...Oh." Finn uttered, his face flustered with embarrassment. "B-but... how could we get that to work?" Finn wasn't confident that they could. They can't even hug without a flame shield but even then, it feels like Finn is hugging warm tinfoil when he's wearing it. They kiss and the world comes to an end.

"C'mon Finn, there has to be a way." Flame Princess pleaded with her boyfriend as she took a step back.

"But where would we start to look for one?" Finn was trying to pick his words wisely but knew he was being backed into a corner.

"What do you mean by that?" Flame Princess demanded an answer from her boyfriend. "You're the hero of Ooo."

Finn was running out of words to say and was afraid of what might happen.

"Maybe it's impossible." Finn blurted out but by the time he realized what he said...

"Impossible?! Are you telling me you're backing down, is that it?!"

Finn could feel the heat radiating off FP intensifying.

"FP, calm down for just a moment." Finn attempted to reach out to his girlfriend. "I didn't mean it like that."

"Then what did you mean?!" Flame Princess hoped this wouldn't go where she thought it was going.

"What I mean is that we can wait this out until we can go through with it." Finn hoped this statement was enough to calm Flame Princess down as he believed she knew what he was talking about. But it wasn't and she didn't. All it served to accomplish was to make Flame Princess suspicious. She had been on guard around Finn as of late and for good reason.

It was rare that she could ever get him to pick up the phone to talk to her. He's excuses for things had been getting more and more ridiculous for when he misses events they plan like he missed a gathering with FP's folks because a cyclops was forcing him into a staring contest by tying Finn to a tree. There are days when even Jake seems to be unable to find him. But the funny thing is that Finn did nothing wrong. He was out of the house more often, his excuses were actually true, and when he travels alone he sometimes forgets he's supposed to tell someone where he's going… But FP doesn't know all that.

"Elaborate that last part, Finn." said Flame Princess, as she hoped the answer he gave to her was a good one.

"We can go through with it?" Finn asked unsure if that's what she meant. Finn's answer, however, caused FP to frown at her boyfriend.

Go through what exactly?" Finn wasn't sure what she meant. Flame Princess had never been this suspicious of anything he's done since they got back together.

_'Darn! I need to come up with a better answer for FP.'_ Finn thought to himself. Problem was that Finn was never the best with words. After pondering for some time, Finn was able to come up with what he considered to be the best answer for FP.

"Um...go through another date?" it was the only thing that Finn could think of. That sealed it. FP knew there was something she wasn't telling him.

"Finn, tell me the truth right NOW!" FP shouted, the heat from her body becoming much more intense by the second.

"About what?!" Flame Princess was the only being alive that could scare Finn consistently.

"You don't want to take our relationship to the next level at all, that's what!" Flame Princes blurted out. "You don't want me to be your girlfriend!"

"Nonono!" Finn quickly said. "That's not what I meant!" Finn continued to deny it but it was futile.

"Then why are you hesitating then?!" Flame Princess wanted some answer out of Finn and she wants it right now.

"You caught me off-guard with your accusations... Anyone would react this way!" Finn tried to defend himself.

"When they know they're caught?!" Well lot good that defense did. "I guess she was right..." Flame Princess muttered under her breath but before Finn could do anything. "That's it! All will burn!"

"What?! NO!" Finn was horrified to hear this from his girlfriend. But it was too late. Flame Princess took off and anything that was in her path was set ablaze.

_'Oh no! What have I done?!'_ Finn thought as he chased after FP but he had to take a longer route as he ran around the flames.

"Flame Princess, you have to stop this! Please reconsider what you're doing!" Finn shouted at the top of his lungs.

His pleas fell on deaf ears. Flame Princess didn't even seem to notice his presence.

"Oh man, what do I do now?" Finn asked no one in particular.

"Finn!" A voice called out to Finn from behind him, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. He turned around to see Jake with Lady and Bubblegum as well. "What in the name of Glob is FP doing?!" Jake asked as he gestured towards all the destruction that Flame Princess was causing.

"She just went ballistic after I hesitated about taking the relationship to the next level." Finn replied.

"She wanted to do WHAT?!" Bubblegum shouted in shock.

"Wow, she really wanted to go to tier 15 that bad." Jake commented.

"Jake, you're not helping!" Finn and Bubblegum both shouted.

"Hey, I was being honest, that's all." Jake said defensively.

"이 봐! 그녀는 캔디 왕국으로 향하고있다!" ("Look there! She's heading for the Candy Kingdom!") Lady pointed out as everyone looked to the said kingdom.

"Oh glob!" Princess Bubblegum exclaimed. "She's going to kill everyone!" Bubblegum then turned to the guys. "Finn, Jake; you two need to slow her down and prevent her from destroying the Candy Kingdom!" PB ordered as she hopped onto Lady.

"Don't worry PB, we're on it!" Finn then jumped on Jake before they headed towards to the Candy Kingdom, hoping they weren't too late. Finn hoped that whatever Bubblegum had planned would calm Flame Princess down.

Meanwhile, in the Candy Kingdom, everyone was in a state of panic, as they ran from FP as fast and as far as they could, hiding from her wrath and avoiding her rampage. Finn and Jake arrived at the Kingdom and saw Flame Princess just setting the place ablaze.

"FP is really peeved off big time!" Jake shouted in amazement.

"I know Jake and it's my fault this happens." Finn admitted. "But I'm here right now, ready to stop her!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Jake asked as the chaos intensified.

"Honestly I was hoping to think of something on the way here..." Finn said bashfully.

"Did you?"

"No..." Finn said with shame.

"We'll think of something quick man, before the Candy Kingdom is toast...literally!" Jake informed the teenager. Finn thought it over until something came to him.

"Get me close to her!" Finn ordered his brother.

Jake obliged before moving as fast as he could so they could get close to FP.

"Flame Princess!" Finn shouted as loud as his lungs could make him. Flame Princess turned around and saw Finn, much to her displeasure.

"What are you doing here?! Ready for another excuse?!"

"No Flame Princess!" Finn replied. "You have to stop attacking the Candy Kingdom this instant! You're going to seriously harmed everyone!"

"That's the point!" Finn's eyes widened as Flame Princess continued. "I plan on leveling this whole place to the ground so that no one will be left for your affection! Because if I can't have it then no one will!

"Flame Princess, you'll always be the one for me and that won't change!" Finn desperately insisted. "No matter what happens, I'll always be at your side!" Finn's words seemed to touch FP "Even if we can't make it work now, we can still find a way!" FP stopped what she was going and for a while, it appeared that everything was about to turned out alright.

Suddenly FP let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Flame Princess, what's wrong?!" asked Finn, as he looked on with horror. Jake looked down and saw something that he couldn't believe. White foam was forming around Flame Princess and began to engulf her.

"Finn, look!" Jake then pointed to the foam, as Finn could only look on with horror.

"What the hell?!" Finn shouted. Jake shrunk down as Flame Princess also began to lose height to the encasing foam. Flame Princess managed to break out of the foam before falling to the ground.

"Flame Princess, are you alright?" asked the teenager, as he made his way to his girlfriend.

"Finn...please stay..." she weakly begged. "I feel...cold..."

"What...? How...?" Was all Finn could really say. Flame Princess was now blue but when he touched her skin, she felt more like she belonged in the Ice Kingdom.

"Don't worry FP; I'm here, just like...I'm promised." Finn uttered the last word out, feeling himself tearing up.

"Thanks...Finn..." was the last thing Flame Princess said, before she smiled and closed her eyes for the final time. As her body fell limp, it seemed to fade away into blue sparks. Bubblegum came around the wall of foam to see Finn kneeling on the ground as he began to fully break down.

"Finn?" asked Princess Bubblegum, as she slowly approached the devastated teenager. Finn couldn't speak but Jake could.

"PB, what the hell is all of this?!" Jake said as he pointed to the mountain of foam.

"I did what I have to do, Jake." Princess Bubblegum insisted. "It was the only way to stop Flame Princess from harming everyone." At this point, Finn got up, but doesn't turn around to face the candy humanoid.

"So that was your solution? Murdering her in cold blood?" Finn spoke with a dark tone.

"It was either that or the entire populace of the Candy Kingdom and glob knows elsewhere! You of all people should know that Finn!" Finn finally turned around to face Princess Bubblegum, but shocked her when he slapped her in the face.

"You killed her, you monster! You didn't have to do that! Flame Princess was almost saved until you murder her!"

Finn then stormed off out of the kingdom, cussing up a storm and berating the whole kingdom. He wanted _nothing_ to do with it anymore.

Princess Bubblegum was speechless by Finn's action, as it was the last thing she ever expected. Likewise, Jake is just as shocked as PB was. At the same time, no one could blame him. Flame Princess was his girlfriend for four years with them only breaking up once and now that she was gone, Finn didn't know what to feel. Sadness? Anger? Both?

As Finn stormed off across the drawbridge, he came across a strange door. Finn didn't know why it felt familiar to him as he never saw it before… or did he?

Finn, for a moment, could fell tears streaming from his face, before forcing them down and continued moving on past the door, going far away from the Candy Kingdom and the mysterious door.

But as he tried to get away he seemed to hit an invisible wall.

What the-?" Finn exclaimed, before examining the invisible wall with his hands.

Finn turned back to the door. His vision was still blurry from the tears and his fury, but the door seemed to be crystal clear.

"Where does this lead to?" Finn wondered, before he opened the door to find out for himself.

Finn opened the door and the light on the other side blinded him. When he was able to open his eyes again, he was on the floor of Marceline's living room.

"I'm… at Marcy's?" Finn said before finally signing with relief. Only a dream. "Man, I can't believe I relived all that again." Finn muttered, before he noticed he was no longer on the roof. "How did I get here?"

Finn thought back and realized that he must have come in on his own without noticing.

"Maybe I should have slept here sooner." Finn said to himself.

Finn got up off the floor to see if the knife storm had passed. He walked up to the door, opened it, and looked out.

Finn looked around and waited for a few minutes, before sighing in relief that the storm has now passed.

"Thank goodness that's over."

"I should at least leave a note for Marceline before I head back to the Tree Fort." Finn stated.

Finn wrote a note before heading out for home.

_Hey Marceline thanks for everything! I was glad to have a friend that I could talk to and not have to worry about the world around me! I'll be at the Tree Fort in case you're wondering._

_Sincerely,_

_Finn_

After leaving the note, Finn left as quietly as he could but wasn't quite enough as Marceline awoke from her bed.

Finn then left the cave, before starting the long trek back to the Tree Fort, hoping that BMO is fine and well during his absence.

**A/N Everything but the door thing really what happened. The Finn in the dream didn't recognize the door from his dreams as it was a different version, so there would be no way he could have remembered the door from his previous dreams. Or that's how I'm making it.**

**Also I'm probably pushing what I can get away with on a T rating. I don't know; the show could get away with what they do on a lesser rating, why can't I?**

**Depending on the order you put it in determines how many points it got. 1st: 3 points 2nd: 2 points 3rd: 1 point I also put some assumptions based on what you told me. This is why I asked for an order, not just one answer.  
**

**And now the final score is…**

**Revenge: 1 + 1 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 2 = 18**

**Romance: 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 18**

**Reconciliation: 3 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 + 1 = 18**

**...**

**...Son of a bitch! Now what?! Ugh… Well that turned out well! Thanks to all who voted but it might take a while for me to figure out what to do with this… unlikely outcome. Luckily it will only affect chapter 6 onward so we have wiggle room.**

**Before I ask my next question, I'd like to also thank everyone who told me they enjoyed the story. You guys are awesome! **

**Next question, (this one was actually inspired by something Odradem told me about Finn)**

_**Is love and hatred powerful enough to override even Finn's strongest held morals and goody-two shoes attitude?**_

_**A: Yes B: No**_

**Choose well…**

**Let me know what you guys think of FP's death and what you think of my question! Till next time, Sal out!**


	6. Revelations and Relaxation

_**A/N It's official. You can taint even Finn… But only if we push him to his limit…**_

_**Ch. 6 Revelation and Relaxation**_

Marceline was floating over her staring at the note that Finn had left not even a few minutes ago.

"Well, he didn't stay long," Marceline spoke with amusement. "But I'm not going to tell him where he can and can't go." Marceline packed up a few things, along with an umbrella, before she ventured outside in the land of Ooo.

_'Maybe it's time I talked with Jake.'_ Marceline thought to herself. _'I haven't scared him in weeks that it'd be pretty funny.'_ With that, the vampire queen decided to pay a visit to the dog, if only just for old time's sake. But that was only if she couldn't get what she wanted.

***Meanwhile* **

Finn arrived back home at the tree fort and wasted no time announcing his presence.

"BMO, I'm home!" In response, BMO dropped down from the ceiling, performing its signature "BMO chop", before it quickly realized it was the human teenager himself. "Finn, it is good to see you!"

"On guard as always, aren't you BMO?" Finn said amused.

"You may never know when an intruder might show up." the robot replied.

"I hear that." Finn said as he helped BMO of his head.

"So Finn, any plans for today?" the robot asked the teenager.

"Well... No actually." Finn realized. He literally had thought of nothing to do.

"Why not play some video games?" BMO suggested. "That might take your mind off for a moment."

"Sure BMO, I don't see why not." said Finn. So BMO and Finn headed upstairs to play video games and relax.

***Meanwhile***

Marceline made her way to Lady Rainicorn's house, after a long travel, hoping that Jake was there, as she made her way to the front door. Marceline looked up to see a window open.

'They make it too easy...' Marceline thought with a smirk. While Marceline is plotting up a prank, Jake, meanwhile, sat on the couch, still a bit down about his argument with Finn.

"Maybe Finn's cooled down a bit now that it's been a few days. Maybe I should go see him..." Jake spoke aloud.

Suddenly, Jake heard a knock on the door, much to his curiosity.

"Finn, is that you?" Jake asked out loud, as he made his way to the front door. Jake opened the door but saw no one outside. Jake looked around confused for about five seconds before something dawned on him.

"Stupid ding-dong ditchers!" Jake exclaimed as he shut the door. Shortly afterwards, he heard another knock, much to Jake's surprise. "Not this time!" he stated, as he quickly opened the front door as fast as he can. Still nothing. "Who's doing this?!" Jake yelled. In the midst of all of this, Jake felt a slight tapped on his shoulder, prompting the dog to turn around and saw Marceline staring right at him.

"Boo!" was all the vampire queen said, as Jake freaked out, as he fell on his back.

Marceline burst out laughing as she floated on her back, holding her sides.

"Marceline, do you have to do that?!" Jake berated the vampire.

"I do when you make it so easy to do!" Marceline said through her laughing.

"Sure Marceline, whatever you say." Jake sarcastically remarked.

"So what do you want?" Jake asked, clearly still annoyed by Marceline's antics.

After ceasing her laughter, the vampire became quite serious, much to Jake's curiosity.

"Can you tell more about that incident?"

Jake immediately became flustered as the question, in all sense, was clear out of left field. Though this was both unexpected as it was rare for Jake to actually see Marceline serious like she was and unexpected as that's not exactly the first thing you ask in a conversation with anyone.

"W-why do you w-want to k-know about t-that?" the dog nervously asked.

"Because everyone either doesn't want to answer or is so vague they might as well not have." Marceline spoke as she crossed her arms and stared at the wall. "You're the only one left so..." Suddenly Marceline transformed her face into a more wolf-form and got in Jake's face. "Spill it."

Jake yelped by the sight and without further hesitation, finally gave into the vampire's demand, as he took a deep breath and offered Marceline an answer.

While Jake explained everything that he saw happened, Marceline listened intently. Surprisingly, she made no comments during anything that happened until after the foam part was said.

"Bonnie never mentioned that..." Marceline mumbled.

"Yeah, PB felt really guilty for what she did to FP," Jake stated. "Though she never said it to our faces. It was Lady who found it out. I was surprised. She didn't look like she cared that FP died." Marceline was also surprised.

"I can see why Finn ditched the Candy Kingdom." Marceline commented.

"He won't even step in the kingdom unless you guilt trip him." Jake remarked.

"I'm willing to bet that he doesn't like the attention he's receiving there." said the vampire.

"I don't think he really cares anymore," Jake said sadly. "And I'm not sure he ever will."

"C'mon Jake, this is Finn we're talking about..." Marceline began. "I get it that it's hard to move on. I should know, I've been around 1000 years and I have seen so many things I wish I could forget right away." Jake shrugs as Marceline does have a point. "Anyway, thanks for telling me about it, Jake and sorry if I have to intimidate you to get some answer." Marceline apologized to the dog.

"You're apologizing? Are you feeling okay?" Jake said cautiously. Marceline never made it a habit of apologizing for anything.

"Don't push it." Marceline said coldly.

Jake quickly nodded his head in fear, but at the same time, was somewhat relief to know that Marceline is still her old self.

"Well as much as I'd like to just hang around for a little longer, I've still got a few more stops to make." Marceline said as she floated to the door.

"Going to talk to Bubblegum?" Jake asked, causing Marceline to stop at the door.

"Yeah... There's something I need to talk to her about." Jake sensed the coldness in Marceline's voice, causing him to look away. It wasn't going to be a happy social visit. But before he could say anything, Marceline was long gone.

"I hope nothing happens..." Jake mumbled as he went upstairs.

***Back at the Fort***

Finn continued to play some video games on BMO, though was getting visibly bored.

"Well that's the third game I've gotten the high score off... today." Finn remarked, clearly bored.

"I'm sorry if I didn't entertain you enough Finn." BMO apologized to its friend.

"It's not your fault BMO. I guess I just got too good at your games." Finn shrugged as he laid himself down on the wooden couch.

BMO looked down on the ground, admitting that Finn had a good point.

"Maybe I'll go on an adventure. It's been a while since I've actually gone out on one." Finn thought aloud.

"That actually sounds like a good plan." BMO agreed. "But seriously, be careful out there."

"Thanks BMO! I'll see you in a few hours!" Finn waved goodbye as he jumped down stairs and ran out the door.

***Elsewhere***

Princess Bubblegum was in her lab, conducting another experiment as usual. She hears her window open but looks to see nothing. But she knew better.

"I know you're here, Marceline." Bubblegum said plainly.

"Aw, you're no fun." Marceline innocently responded. "You and..." Luckily Marceline stopped herself.

"Marceline, why are you even here to begin with?" Princess Bubblegum demanded an answer from the vampire.

"Just wanted to talk... nothing more." Marceline said truthfully.

"Talk about what exactly?" Princess Bubblegum was becoming suspicious of Marceline's intention.

"Let's just say... current events." Marceline said, getting visibly serious. Princess Bubblegum immediately turned around to face the vampire, but she was far from happy about the implication she made.

"Marceline, I've already told you about what happened."

"Bonnie, our conversation, if you could call it that, was about thirty seconds long and could be summed up as "I protected my kingdom from Flame Princess." That's it." Marceline pointed out.

"That's exactly what I did, Marceline." Princess Bubblegum justified her action.

"With growing foam?" Marceline asked which seemed to hit the correct nerve.

"So you finally know the truth, then?" at that point, the tough exterior Princess Bubblegum put on was suddenly replaced by a look of guilt on her face.

"You had the foam ready, didn't you?" Marceline was on the right track. "You planned the whole thing." Bubblegum sighed as she began to explain.

"No… I didn't." Bubblegum looked at Marceline with a serious look on her face, but even Marceline found it hard to read. "I knew that Flame Princess would always be a threat to anyone in Ooo if she ever got out of hand. Before the incident, Finn was the only thing keeping her from losing her mind at that point. The love between them was so great that if Finn was the one to ever cause the break up, the results of her frustration would be too much to handle. So I needed to be prepared in case. I created the foam to cool and feed on the heat of Flame Princess but the mixture I used wasn't finished. It was too strong and instead of incapacitating her, it killed her instead."

Once she was done with her explanation, Princess Bubblegum broke down, sobbing like mad, while Marceline, for once, was left speechless by this.

_'So it was an accident.'_ Marceline thought to herself. But then something didn't seem right. "If it was an accident, why did Jake tell me that you seemed like you didn't care about FP's death?"

"I don't show my emotions that much and I prefer to keep them to myself." Princess Bubblegum replied.

"Finn has every right to hate me; I see that now."

"Bonnie, it's never too late to repair the damage." Marceline assured the princess.

"I know but... from what Jake has told me; just mentioning me seems to anger him."

"It's not going to disappear like that, Bonnie. He needs space and time, that's all." the vampire assured Princess Bubblegum.

_'When did I suddenly become everyone's support beam?'_ Marceline thought.

Before the vampire could fathom about this, Princess Bubblegum spoke once more.

"Thanks for listening to me, Marcy. I know it wasn't much, but at least now I need to make things right."

"Right. Well I'll leave you to it!" Marceline said as she flew from the room. As she flew through town, she passed by a furniture store.

"I could use some new furniture around the house." Marceline said to herself, before she turned around and made her way in.

"Hello may I help you?" The store clerk asked.

"Yeah I need a new couch." Marceline told the clerk.

"You just arrive in time, dear. We are currently having a good deal for the latest brand." the store clerk happily explained.

"Nice!" Marceline exclaimed as the clerk lead her to a red couch. Marceline wasted no time trying it out. "I like this one… it's so soft and comfortable."

"Have you made your decision?" The clerk asked after Marceline was finished testing it.

"Yeah I'll take this one. How much?"

***Elsewhere***

Finn decided to make his way to the swamp, hoping that the area might have some great challenges for him to face. Finn was whistling cheerfully with his mind at ease.

'So far so good, but I just want to get into the action right now.' Finn thought to himself. Suddenly Finn heard screaming.

"About time." Finn muttered under his breath, before he took off towards the source. Finn peaked though some bushes to see what was going on. He saw a group of vicious looking alligator men surrounding a family of triangle shaped humanoids. Finn jumped out and proceeded to beat the ever living crap out of the alligator men. "I'm going to beat the scales out of you punks!" Finn declared out loud. After a few minutes of Finn kicking all alligator ass in his vicinity, the alligators run off just as Finn unsheathed his sword threateningly.

"Thank you for saving us, young traveler." the older triangle humanoid thanked Finn.

"You're welcome... Mister...?" Finn had never seen these people before.

"Third Jones." the older triangle humanoid replied. "And this is my wife Third Ella and my son Third Jones Jr."

"Nice to meet you all!" Finn happily replied as he knelt down to face them. "Do you three live in this swamp?"

"No, my wife and son are just visiting various places around Ooo before we head back to the Triangle Kingdom. Unfortunately, I made a mistake of coming here, under the assumption that the swamp was peaceful." Third Jones explained.

"We have a Triangle Kingdom?" Finn, even with all his adventures, still couldn't say he had seen all of Ooo.

"We like to keep to ourselves as we are quite small. But that doesn't mean we don't have defenses." Ella told.

"If it wasn't for the Triangle King, we would have been wiped out ages ago." Third Jones Jr. happily exclaimed.

"Well I've got to see this! I'll be happy to take you all back to your home!" Finn offered.

"Thank you, young man. We really need the help." said Third Jones. Finn pulled his backpack off and opened it up.

"Hop in!" Finn exclaimed. The Thirds obliged out of gratitude, before hopping inside Finn's backpack. "Hang on everybody!" Finn said as he began the trek out of the forest.

***Back to Marceline***

Marceline was overseeing the hauling of the couch she bought with some money she "borrowed" from Finn back to her house. With the help of some of the candy people she intimidated to helping her, she managed to get the couch there within good time.

"Just put it in front of the door, I can get it from there." Marceline ordered. The candy people complied with the vampire's demand, before they quickly fled for their lives.

"Well that was easy." Marceline then transformed into her larger bat form to push the new couch in and pull the old one out. Luckily her arms were thin enough to not break the door frame.

"Now I just want to relax for a bit." the vampire then laid down on her new couch. Marceline sighed heavily at the comfortable couch. "This might be better than my bed though I've almost never actually slept in it." But as she continued to lie down, Marceline couldn't help but think of what had transpired today.

_'Bonnie was preparing for the worst... unfortunately for Finn and FP... The worst came too early.'_ Marceline thought as she stared at the ceiling. _'I wonder what Finn is to right now?'_ the vampire wondered, hoping that his day is turning out well for him.

"Maybe I'll go see him later but first," Marceline grabbed her bass and started to play. "I feel like practicing." So Marceline began to practice on her bass to pass the time, if only to take her mind off of things for just a moment.

***Back with Finn***

Finn and his passengers, after a long trek, had finally arrived at the Triangle Kingdom. Much to his surprise, it was much larger than he imagined.

"Big place compared to the people that live in it..." Finn mumbled in awe of the large kingdom.

Third Jones popped out of Finn's backpack, as he began to explain to Finn about the kingdom.

"Yeah, I'll admit it's not what most people expected, but believe me, we learn how to adapt and adjust to our surroundings."

"It also keeps the wild animals out." Ella added.

"Anyway, do you want to come inside and check it out for yourself?" asked Third Jones Jr.

"Sure." Finn accepted.

With that, Finn went into the Triangle Kingdom, as he witnessed several triangle humanoids going on with their daily lives, using a combination of wits, ingenuity and risks to perform mundane tasks, from shopping, cleaning and even repairing some of the buildings like a team.

"Wow, you guys sure are a hardworking folk." Finn noted, amazed to see so many triangle humanoids working with one another like a team.

"We have to be if we want to protect ourselves." So said Jones.

"Speaking of which, how do you guys defend this kingdom?" asked Finn.

"That's simple, young traveler..." Elle began. "We sometimes merged into one form to face any oncoming threats."

"You can do that?!"

"Yes but it requires a large amount of our people. About thirty or so to make a decently sized defender." Jones explained.

"But the transformation is rather awesome!" Jones Jr. happily exclaimed. "We can take down anyone who wants to invade our kingdom!"

"I wonder what it would look like if the entire town became one..." Finn mumbled.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me: just turn right from this path and you should see our home right in front of you." said Jones, snapping Finn back to reality.

"Oh... sure." Finn said, a bit out of it.

Finn turned to the right on and the pathway and as expected, there was a building right in front of him, no doubt belonging to Jones.

"Thank you... Um..." Ella realized they never asked for his name.

"Finn." He said normally.

"The human?!" Jones exclaimed with surprise.

"You mean, you're actually real?!" Jones Jr. also exclaimed in surprise.

"I guess when you guys don't get out much; you lose touch with what's real." Finn said bashfully.

"Sorry if we reacted like that, Finn." Jones apologized. "It's just that, we thought you were nothing more than a fictional character from one of many stories."

"Well I am pretty well known." Finn said, letting an ego inflate.

"Well, it was really an honor meeting you." said Ella.

"Thank you for the ride, mister." Jones Jr. finally spoke.

"We are forever in your debt." Jones informed Finn.

"No that's okay. It's what I do!" Finn said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"But seriously, you're welcome." Finn continued.

Finn began to wave goodbye as he left the kingdom.

"Man that felt really good." Finn said to himself.

"I think I'll head home now. Maybe get something to eat..." Finn thought aloud. With that, he began the long journey back to the Tree Fort, feeling much better for such long time.

***Back to Marceline***

After playing for a good hour, she began to get bored playing her bass and decide to go out and see Finn.

"I wonder what he's up to now?" she wondered, as she picked up an umbrella and made her way to the Tree Fort. It was nearing sundown which would be in a few hours.

"Looks like the sun is setting right now." Marceline noted. Marceline began to think on whether to leave now or after the sun set. After pondering for quite some time, Marceline looked at her umbrella before shrugging her shoulders.

"I'll just bring this with me just in case." the vampire said to himself, before she left the cave and heading to the Tree Fort.

***Meanwhile***

Finn arrived back at the tree fort with a pleased grin on his face.

"Man, what a day. I could use some rest and relaxation after that adventure." said Finn, as he opened the front door. Finn climbs up stairs to see BMO cooking.

"BMO, what are you making?" Finn asked the robot.

"Don't know. Experimenting." BMO said calmly.

'That doesn't sound good.' Finn thought, as he gulped nervously on what kind of meal his friend is planning to make.

"Well you'll be finding out soon enough because I need a taste tester and Jake won't pick up.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Finn nervously asked. BMO looked at Finn, insulted by the lack of trust Finn had in it.

"C'mon Finn, I just need you to trust me on this. Otherwise, I don't know if I did a good job on it." BMO insisted.

"Okay, I'll try your new foods." Finn caved.

BMO couldn't help but smile, overjoyed that Finn would take a bite of his cooking. After about 5 minutes of just putting different kinds of food in front of Finn, BMO looked at Finn patiently. Finn began to eat but the second his taste buds hit, it was like eating mold. Finn forced the food down as to not hurt poor BMO's feelings.

"So Finn how was it?" BMO asked its friend.

"I-it was good BMO! I enjoyed it!"

"Thank you so much Finn! I feel very happy now!" BMO exclaimed.

"You know, I think I'm gonna go upstairs. Maybe lay down..." Finn said as he quickly made his way upstairs. Finn then made his way to the nearest bathroom and proceeded to throw up, before lying down on his bed.

"Man that was the worst meal I had in my life."

"You should be careful what you say..." Finn heard behind him. "You never know who might be listening..." Finn could recognize the voice through a hurricane.

"Hey Marcy," Finn said without looking.

"Hey Finn." Marceline greeted back, as the vampire let herself in through the window.

"Get bored at your house?" Finn asked calmly.

"Yeah, I decided to drop by and see how you're doing." Marceline replied.

"My day is turning out good so far." Finn happily said. "I went to this new kingdom I didn't even know existed; the Triangle Kingdom."

"Triangle Kingdom? That's way the hell out there." Marceline remarked.

"I know, but the people that lived there are amazing! They work together like a team and they can apparently merge into one form." Finn exclaimed in excitement.

"I've been there before, Finn. I'm aware of what they can do." Marceline stated matter-of-factually

"Really? You've never mention it before." Finn pointed out.

"Just because I don't talk about places doesn't mean I haven't been there." Marceline said as she floated around the room.

"I never thought of it that way." said Finn.

"To be fair, you never really think period." Marceline teased.

"Can't argue with that." Finn agreed with the vampire.

"Did you just dis yourself?" Marceline said as she started to laugh. Finn didn't respond right away, as he ended up laughing with Marceline.

"Whoops." Finn said shrugging before continuing to laugh. Eventually, the two quickly stopped laughing, before Finn decided to ask Marceline a question of his own.

"So Marceline, how is your day going for you?" Marceline hesitated for a brief second before answering. "Eh," she said shrugging.

"Eh?" asked Finn, unimpressed by the vampire's response, as he arched an eyebrow. "Is that it or is there more to it?" Marceline thought hard about what to say next. She could tell Finn about his talk with Jake and Bubblegum or she could lie and say nothing.

'If I tell him what I was really up to, Finn might get mad at me about it. But if I lie what I did today or say nothing at all, he will only get suspicious.'

"Marceline, I'm waiting." Finn called out, snapping the vampire back to reality. Marceline just said the first thing that came to mind.

"I bought a new couch." she said quickly. Finn looked at Marceline for a moment, puzzled by the long response, but eventually smiled back.

"That's cool. It's about time you got rid of that old couch."

_'Whew... Good save.'_ Marceline thought.

"Say, is it alright if I drop by at your place and check your new couch?" Finn suggested.

"So sudden," Marceline remarked.

"I don't see why not. I just want to know how comfortable it is, that's all." Finn stated.

"Well...I guess it's alright." said Marceline, before rubbing her head.

"That's great! Let's do it right now." Finn insisted, much to the vampire's surprise.

"Now? But I just got comfortable..." Marceline feigned her whining.

"Just to make things interesting, how about a little race back to your house?" Finn asked with a smirk.

"You won't win," Marceline said plainly. "You could have a five minute head start and I'll still beat you there."

"You're on!" Finn declared out loud.

"Wait what?" By the time Marceline knew what happened, Finn leaped out the window and began to jump down to the ground.

"I don't think so, Finn!" Marceline called out, before she flew out through the window.

"Nope! You said I had a five minute head start!" Finn shouted as he sprinted for Marceline's house.

"And let you win that easily? I don't think so." the vampire retorted.

"No fair, Marcy!" Finn exclaimed while laughing a bit.

The two then continued on with their race, exchanging witty comments towards one another and having some fun at the same time. Marceline was barely flying at her full speed but she wanted to give Finn hope he could win before completely destroying it. Finn, on the other hand, was running as fast as he can, unwilling to drop his guard at any given moment. Finn couldn't help but feel happy. He was actually having fun with this race.

'For once, I am enjoying myself.' Finn thought to himself.

'It feels good to let loose...' Suddenly, the cave began to come into view.

"Alright, I'm almost there!" Finn shouted, before running even faster than usual. Then Marceline kicked it into overdrive and completely blew out Finn.

"Whoa!" was all Finn could say, leaving the teenager quite speechless by the vampire's unexpected move. Finn slowed down to a halt with his mouth ajar.

"Told you I will beat you." Marceline said with a smirk. Finn quickly got his act together and ran into Marceline's cave.

"Alright Marceline, you proven your point." Finn said in a calm manner. Finn was out of breath but was starting to catch it.

"When you get yourself back in shape, meet me inside the house." Marceline informed the teenager, as she made her way inside.

"I'm in great shape!" Finn shouted, insulted.

"Whatever you say, Finn." the vampire simply remarked. Finn followed Marceline inside to see her sitting on the new couch... that looked exactly like the old one.

"Why did you buy the exact same looking couch?" Finn questioned the vampire.

"I'm a vampire. I like red." Marceline shrugged.

"Alright then." Finn then made his way to the new couch and sat on it. "You were right, Marcy. This couch really is comfortable."

"Thanks for buying it for me." Marceline said as she leaned back.

"What?" Finn asked perplexed.

"Yeah I made a loan from that colossal treasure room you have. I knew you wouldn't mind." Finn could only look at Marceline, stunned to hear this, as his eyes widen in surprise and his mouth hanging in disbelief.

"Oh please. You've got have half of the Candy Kingdom treasury in your front room. It's not like you're gonna miss a few coins."

"...I guess you do have a point." Finn reluctantly said. "But maybe you should ask me next time."

"Nah," Marceline said nonchalantly. "Not my style to ask first." Finn decided not to argue further, opting to just relax on Marceline's new couch instead.

"What do you want to do now?" Finn asked after about thirty seconds of silence.

"To be honest, I didn't plan that far ahead." Marceline admitted. "I was actually hoping you have some good plans for today."

"Want to watch a movie?" Finn suggested after another silence.

"Sure, I don't mind." Marceline happily replied. "Which one?"

"Um..." Finn said thinking.

"Well let's see what I have." Marceline said as she floated over to the movie cabinet. She opened it and bent over to look at all the tapes, giving Finn a... rather pleasant view of her behind, causing him to blush. After about thirty seconds, Marceline finally picked out a movie.

"Finn, let's check out Division 8. I heard it's really good." It was then that the vampire noticed the human teenager was acting rather uncomfortable. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes I am!" Finn quickly replied; worried about how Marceline would have reacted if she knew what had occurred. Luckily, Marceline just rubbed it off as Finn being weird again and popped the cassette into the VCR.

'That was a close one.' Finn thought, as Marceline sat right next to him.

For the next two hours, Finn and Marceline watched the movie with eagerness, especially for the human teenager, as he never would have imagine that such a movie would have a good storyline, along with a strong theme and a great cast. After the movie came to an end, Finn turned his attention to Marceline, still amazed by what he had seen.

"That movie was much better than I have ever imagined!"

"Eh... I thought it was okay." Marceline shrugged.

"Are you sure, Marcy? Cause I thought it had a really good storyline."

"Yeah but it's a story I've heard before. It wasn't like it was entirely original." Marceline said as she floated over to the VCR.

"It was still enjoyable regardless." said Finn.

"I'd rather watch Heat Signature for the one-hundred and twenty-seventh time than see this again." Marceline joked.

"Speaking of which, do you still have that film?"

"Of course I do! I wouldn't get rid of that thing if you paid me with the tree fort!" Marceline joked.

"You know, I wanted to check that film out again." said Finn.

"Eh why not!" Marceline shrugged as she stuck the VHS in.

So Finn and Marceline both watched Heat Signature once again, both enjoying every minute of it. Though Finn starts to dose off during the movie before he flat out falls asleep. Finn then snored rather loudly, prompting Marceline to turn her attention to the human teenager. Marceline began to snicker at the sight.

"For someone who is eager for adventure, Finn sleeps rather quickly.' She then gets an idea for a prank.

"I can't wait to see the look on his face when he wakes up." Marceline quietly said to herself, as she grinned rather deviously.

**A/N Dammit Sal! Pick a location and stick with it! Well do you really want to read about them just walking to the place they're going to?**

**This was a long one folks. But I feel it was worth it. Now the last question begins to take effect next chapter so don't worry too much.**

**Next Question**

_**Should Marceline tell Finn the truth about what she was doing all day even though it would be futile with Finn not trusting Bubblegum and him not being on the best of terms with Jake**_

_**A) Yes B) No**_

**Choose Well...**

**Till next time, Sal out!**


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